Key Points
Growing herbs is easy and less expensive than buying fresh herbs at the grocery store.Growing herbs at home eliminates food waste because you can trim off only what you need.Herbs can be grown from small starter plant or seed. Seed is cheaper, but plant offers instant leaves.
Many gardeners grow herbs in their garden plots, raised beds, or in containers. They can even be grown indoors if you don’t have yard space for an outdoor garden.
But it’s arguably easier to grab a pack or bunch herbs from the produce section at the grocery store for about $2 or $3 while you’re picking up the rest of your ingredients for dinner, so we asked garden experts whether it’s worth it to grow herbs at home considering cost, convenience, food waste, and more.
Meet the Expert
Rhonda Kaiser is the author of The Vintage Farmhouse Garden. She is a Master Gardener and landscape designer who lives in Texas.
Annette Hird is a gardening expert and blogger for Easy Urban Gardens.
Growing Your Own Herbs Saves Money
Rhonda Kaiser, a Texas-based master gardener and author, says that in most instances, growing herbs at home proves cheaper than purchasing them, especially if you have go-to herbs that you cook with regularly, like basil, sage, mint, or cilantro.
Having your own herb plants means you don’t have to buy herbs every time you need them. One plant can provide a continuous harvest for many months, Kaiser says.
Herbs are also hassle-free to grow, gardening pro and blogger Annette Hird says. With the exception of lemongrass, which prefers a warm climate and is tricky to grow based on soil conditions, many commonly used herbs are grown in temperate climates and do well when grown outdoors or indoors.
Home-Grown Means Peak Freshness
Another reason to grow herbs at home instead of buy them at the store? You’ll get better flavor. Like other produce, fresh herbs may travel a considerable distance before they reach store shelves. By the time they reach the produce section of the grocery store, their peak freshness has passed.
Kaiser says that many herbs “have a short shelf life.” If you don’t use them up quickly, they may go bad and need to be thrown out.
“Herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chives, and mint plants can be cultivated at home for gardeners to harvest when they wish, avoiding waste,” Kaiser says.
Tip
Still want to buy herbs at the store? Understandable. It is convenient. Placing the cut stems in a glass of water helps preserve the freshness a bit longer.
Plants or Seeds? Both are Easy and Cost-Effective
If you’re growing herbs from home, you can start from a small plant from a nursery, garden center, farmer’s market, and even some grocery stores, or you can start from seed.
Hird notes that usually a packet of seeds costs far less than a bunch of fresh herbs from the grocery store, and that seed packet will produce many plants.
Established herb plants cost more than seed packets, but one benefit is that you can start harvesting herbs right away. Either method results in having herbs you can harvest continually through the season.
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Tips for Growing Your Own Herbs
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Growing herbs in containers outdoors is easy, and can be done in small spaces like on a deck or balcony. Many herbs are commonly grown as annuals from seed, including basil, parsley, dill, and cilantro.
Also, some herbs planted from seed can become perennial in your garden or containers, including thyme, oregano, chives, and rosemary (which needs to be brought indoors for overwintering).
Shear off the spent stems of your thyme, chives, and oregano at the end of the season, and they will regrow in spring.
Growing herbs indoors requires good potting mix (well-draining), decent sunlight (bright indirect sun for at least five hours per day), and regular watering based on the plant’s needs. You can start herbs from seed indoors in planting trays in spring and them move them outside once days get warmer, to protect tender seedlings.
Some herbs need occasional deadheading. Basil produces more leaves if the flowers are snipped off, and chive flowers should be snipped off once they start to fade. Some varieties of dill can reseed themselves rather happily, so to prevent this, you can harvest the flowers before they go to seed.
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